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Roasted Birds and Mincemeat Pie
In 1837 in London, a case came before the court and the following testimony was recorded: “The complainant said that on Saturday morning he was at the plying place at the Tower stairs, when Crouch began to abuse him, and swore he would “cook his goose,” by which he meant he would ruin him, or Continue reading
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Ulrich of Würtemburg
About five or six centuries ago in central Europe, they just did things differently. At least they did with regard to the nobility. Nobody ever wrote down anything about the common people, so we have no idea. A case in point is Ulrich, the Duke of Würtemberg. He was born February 8 in 1487, and Continue reading
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February 8
One thing that practically every pundit, philosopher, author, activist, and business success story agrees on is “the value of a good education.” For Bill Gates (dropped out of Harvard), it’s all about jobs: “Unemployment rates among Americans who never went to college are about double that of those who have a postsecondary eduction.” Robert Frost Continue reading
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I’m dead certain about this
For some reason, English has tended to borrow words related to death from French. Not directly related to somebody dying, for the most part. Just some possibly unexpected connection to death in general. The most common example is of course “mortgage,” which is borrowed from French where it means “dead” (mort) “pledge” (gage). Sometimes Continue reading
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February 7
William James was a philosopher and psychologist at the beginning of that field. He wrote Human Immortality in 1897, and included this: “Admit now that our brains are such thin and half-transparent places in the veil. …as the white radiance comes through the dome, with all sorts of staining and distortion imprinted on it by Continue reading
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Dickens
“I cannot tell what the dickens his name is,” reads a line in Shakespeare’s “Merry Wives of Windsor.” A century later, in 1728, the somewhat less-well-known writer Colley Cibber wrote “The provok’d husband; or, A journey to London,” and included the same exclamation: “The dickens! has this Rogue of a Count play’d us another Trick then?” Another century passed, Continue reading
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Charles Dickens
I hope you have great expectations for today, because it’s a pip. Even if your house seems bleak in the winter weather, you can always read a tale or two to take your mind out of the city. And as you’ve already guessed (from all those clever hints), it’s the birthday of Charles John Huffam Continue reading
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Standard Fossils
The Latin word “fossilis” means to dig up. You’re probably already thinking of the English word “fossil,” which came from “fossilis” for obvious reasons: fossils are dug up. But there’s another, much more obscure English word also derived from “fossilis”: refossion. “Refossion” is the act of digging up, and specifically the act of digging something Continue reading
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Caucus
You’ll often see the word “caucus” in news stories that have to do with the US Congress — the “Republican caucus,” the “Democratic caucus” — and sometimes a senator or representative who’s independent will be described as “caucusing” with one party or the other. The word is part of the trade jargon of US politics, Continue reading
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Charles Wheatstone
Before Samuel Morse, Alexander Graham Bell, and Thomas Edison, there was Charles Wheatstone. He was born February 6, 1802 in Gloucestershire, England, and if there was anything to be invented during the Victorian era, he was the guy. He was something of a child prodigy, and read widely even as a young boy. He saved Continue reading
About Me
I’m Pete Harbeson, a writer located near Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to writing my own content, I’ve learned to translate for my loquacious and opinionated pup Chocolate Bossypaws. I shouldn’t be surprised, but she mostly speaks in doggerel. You can find her contributions tagged with Chocolatiana.
Check out my other blog, Techlimitics, where I’m grappling with the nature of simplicity.
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